It was encouraging to read Waitematā Local Board Chair Genevieve Sage's observations of Sydney's improvements over Auckland – namely a visible police presence, an absence of graffiti and street mess, and a public transport system that works.
Then came her full stop. So what is she and the board going to do about it? She didn't even recognise it's in her court.
K'Rd especially and parts of Queen Street are riddled with petty crime, people yelling in the middle of the road, going to the toilet in the flower beds, openly dealing drugs and approaching pedestrians demanding money or their mobile.
Graffiti is a blight on many buildings and streetscapes and no one ever does anything when you complain to the council. Our buses and trains have become totally unreliable.
This is her patch. We read about her board's concerns about cycleways, the desired Erebus memorial and becoming a low-carbon community, whatever that means.
For a start, we need the board to insist on regular street police patrols, demand of Auckland Transport better public transport and get council officers to remove graffiti so Auckland can match her acknowledgement that we need to be like Sydney.
Likewise, our local politician, Chlöe Swarbrick, has failed us.
Under her three-year reign, inner-city streets have become unsafe and an ugly mess, yet she continues to just bang on about legalising drugs and homeless being victims, never addressing the real victims, those of us who have bought here and are good citizens.
Local and central government politicians need to be reminded there is a lot of anger and disappointment among voters right now and they will be punished at the polls or, in the board's case, there will be loud demands they start addressing the crucial issues as identified by Ms Sage.
Bill Evans, Freemans Bay
A response to Freemans Bay's Bill Evans
Thank you to Bill Evans for his letter outlining his view on solutions to the challenges in our community. I strongly agree that across every level of Government, from Local Board, through Council to Parliament, there is a need not only for coordination, but for absolute accountability to the issues we face and responsibility for fixing them.
I take responsibility for the challenges facing our neighbourhoods in Auckland Central. In doing so, I must also be straight up that I, like any individual Member of Parliament, wield no unique or special tools to resolve these problems beyond community relationships, the ability to open doors with authorities and agencies and grit to see solutions through. I’ve been working closely with council’s contractors on street cleaning, including graffiti, which I’ve also gone out to do myself to see their processes first-hand.
I’m in touch almost daily with Police regarding their presence, their resources and their work with NGOs to prevent crime happening in the first place, and which I’ve seen directly through an overnight Friday patrol. Upstream, I use my power as one of 120 MPs to build the mandate for the economic overhaul that will see our public transport funded properly, to ensure everyone is housed and that we take an evidence-based approach to reduce drug harm, removing it from the streets.
I feel, see and know the frustration Bill speaks about with our current political system viscerally.
But nothing changes if nothing changes. People can and should be frustrated with a political system that has for decades pretended it takes these problems seriously but has instead taken an austere approach contributing to their exacerbation.
People can and should be frustrated with politicians who do not have the courage of their convictions, who do not muck in and do the work, who sit in an ivory tower and offer soundbites instead of evidence-based solutions.
The only genuine solution is to not leave politics to the politicians, lest we get what we’ve always got. Email every layer of your local political representation and demand a meeting. Turn up to the debates and engage. We get the politics we think we deserve, and I strongly believe we must keep raising that bar.
Chlöe Swarbrick, Auckland Central MP
#ponsonbynews #iloveponsonby #ponsonby #auckland #aucklandshippestrip #onlyponsonby #ponsonbyroad #Greylynn #freemansbay #westmere #ponsonby #hernebay #stmarysbay #archhill #coxsbay #westernsprings #chloeswarbrick #greenpartynz #thegreensnz #aucklandcentralMP
29 May 2023